


All Things Ladouceur

by katikat



Category: When the Game Stands Tall
Genre: Movie Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-14 21:57:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7192421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All my snippets written for the movie When the Game Stands Tall in one place. So far, only gen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Petty & Selfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Missing scene from the movie. (Unbeta'd)

“We’re at the hospital. My dad… my dad had a heart attack.”

Danny calls Chris for support. It doesn’t even occur to him to turn to his sister or to his mother. It doesn’t occur to him to call his _girlfriend_! No, he calls Chris. He needs Chris there.

“I’m on my way.” 

That’s all Chris says, and he drops everything and comes. The whole team’s there, current players and the old pros, famous people with lucrative careers and those who left sports behind. They all come for Coach Ladouceur - but only Chris comes for Danny, too. 

“So, he’s going to be okay?” Chris asks softly hours later while they sit on the front steps of the hospital. People are still streaming in and out around them though the sun is slowly setting. 

Danny shrugs. “I guess. But the doctor wasn’t sure when he would be able to return to coaching.” He sighs and buries his fingers in his hair. “I didn’t react well to that news. At all. God, I behaved like a jerk.”

Chris bumps his shoulder with his. “I’m sure he knows you didn’t mean it.” 

Danny looks at him. “Didn’t I? All my life, I wanted a normal father who would be interested in something I did, in something _other_ than football. And all I got was a coach. But now that I need a coach…” He shakes his head. “I know that it’s not his fault, that he didn’t _choose_ to have a heart attack because it’s _so much fun_ , but… it feels like I’m being let down _again_.”

Chris looks away and Danny winces inwardly - Chris knows all about being let down by a father. Worse even. Complaining about this… Danny feels like an ungrateful, spoiled brat. 

“I’m sorry,” Danny whispers. “I know that my problems must seem very petty and selfish to you–”

Chris turns to him sharply. “They don’t!”

“–but you’re the only one I feel I can actually talk to,” Danny finishes as if his friend didn’t interrupt him. “I really can’t stand up before the team and pour my heart out, not about this, not about everyone’s beloved coach. Dad’s…” He pauses. “Dad’s a great man and a fantastic coach. But he has fifty _other_ sons my age and most of the time, I feel like there’s no place for me in his life other than as one of his players. And if he won’t be my coach anymore, and he has never been my dad, not really…” Danny lets his voice trail off. 

Chris bumps his shoulder again and says warmly, “You’ll figure it out. He’s alive. And as long as he’s alive, you can figure out how to relate to each other outside the field.” 

Danny nods. “You’re right,” he allows, tiredly rubbing his eyes. 

Noticing it, Chris offers, “Do you need a ride home? You look exhausted, you shouldn’t be driving.” 

Sighing, Danny gets up slowly. “Yeah. I’ll just let my mom know that I’m going. Someone will have to make dinner for Michael anyway.” He claps Chris on the shoulder gratefully, smiling a little gratefully. “Thank you.”


	2. Hanging on to Impossible Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another missing scene from the movie. (Unbeta'd)

They’re the last ones in the locker room, everybody else gone home, when Chris finally broaches the subject. “I’m sorry, Danny, I know how much you wanted to be the wide receiver in this game.” 

Danny shrugs with studied indifference, not looking at Chris, and continues rummaging through his bag. “The coach did what he thought was best for the team.” 

Chris closes his locker and turns around. “Yeah, but you’ve worked your butt off to get this position! You deserve it.”

“Not if I’m not good enough,” Danny responds. Then he sighs and stands motionless, head still down. “No matter how much I train or how hard I work, I’ll never be as good as you, or as TK was. The coach made the right decision.” 

Chris steps forward fiercely. “Bull. Shit! That’s bullshit, Danny, and you know it. You’re one of the best–”

Finally, Danny’s head snaps up and his eyes blaze with anger. “I’m not!” he yells, and when Chris falls silent, surprised, Danny adds more calmly, “I’m _not_. I’m good enough to be on the _team_ , but I’m _not_ good enough to be the wide receiver. I finally get it, alright? I get it,” he finishes softly. 

Chris frowns. “You get what?” he asks uncertainly. 

Danny sighs again and sinks down onto the bench. “I will never be as good as you. Or even Tayshon. I’m not stupid or blind.” 

Sitting down next to him, Chris shakes his head. “That’s nonsense, Danny.” 

“I’ve been working twice as hard as Tayshon, and I still get only half as good results. And you,” he laughs, “you’re out of _everyone’s_ league, I don’t even try to measure up to you.” 

“Danny…” Chris whispers uncomfortably. 

Danny shakes his head. “I love football, Chris. God, I really love it. But I’m not naive. Sure, I got a football scholarship, but don’t think I don’t know that it was at least partially because I’m Bob Ladouceur’s son.” 

Chris stares at him for a long moment. “That’s not true, Danny,” he insists. 

But Danny just waves a hand. “I decided to take the scholarship and make the best of it, use it to get good education. I’ll never make it to the pros, Chris, but you will, I’m sure of it.” He smiles and bumps Chris’ shoulder with his. “Every team will beg you to join them, I know it. And I’ll be able to brag then, that I once played alongside _the_ Chris Ryan!”

Chris swallows and though he manages a smile, it’s a little pained. “But we’re still going together, right? You and me, the same school? Like we’ve planned since we were kids?” 

Another playful shoulder bump. “Sure, buddy, we’re best friends! I want to be there with you, every step of the way, and see you become a big star. I promise to be your personal one-man cheerleading squad. Besides, who else would put up with your smelly socks and terrible eating habits?”

Now Chris laughs, but then he becomes serious and looks at Danny. “It was our dream, to becomes pros.”

“Dreams can change, Chris,” Danny responds softly, returning his look. “And I don’t want to hang on to an impossible one. That’s just sad. And don’t take it the wrong way, but I don’t want to end up like your dad.”

Chris’ mouth twists and he nods reluctantly. “Yeah. Me neither.”

“Come on,” Danny says, and after bumping shoulders with his friend again, he gets up. “I’ll buy you a cola. We can drown our gloom in artificial sugar.”

Chris laughs and gets up, too.


	3. If God Were Merciful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set post movie. Mickey Ryan does not react well to his son's failure to reach the record. (Unbeta'd)

When Chris leaves the stadium, he goes with Danny and they’re among the first players to go. He hopes to avoid the reporters, there to ask him about his failure to reach the record - only outsiders like them could see what he did as failure, though. Them… and apparently his father.

Mickey Ryan throws himself at his son as if he lost his mind, knocking Danny aside, and he yells into Chris’ face, “You promised me the record! You promised me the damn record!” He’s roaring with fury and punching Chris, again and again. 

And Chris lets him because he feels that he finally broke away, that he’s finally standing on his own two feet - and that his father can’t touch him anymore. So, Chris just stands there and lets his father do whatever he wants and all he feels for this miserable man is pity.

But Danny can’t just stand by and watch his best friend get beaten bloody. And so he steps in, yelling, “Mr Ryan! Mr Ryan, stop! Mr…” But when he reaches out to catch Mickey Ryan’s flying fist, Chris’ father turns on him and punches him with all the power of his hot rage.

And Chris can only watch in horror as Danny stumbles back, so stunned by the unexpected punch that he trips and falls - and the loud crack as his head hits the curb echoes loudly through the suddenly too silent a parking lot. 

“No!” Chris yells and finally pushes his father away hard - and Mickey Ryan, shocked by what just happened, lets him - and he rushes towards his friend, because Danny’s down and not moving. 

And as Chris drops to his knees by Danny’s side and his hands flutter helplessly over Danny’s chest - yes, he’s still breathing, his heart’s still beating, but there’s blood on the pavement and blood coming out of his ear! - light spills into the parking lot as the main gate opens and the chanting, celebrating crowd runs out, Coach Ladouceur and Terry Eidson carried on the shoulders of their young charges, laughing and whooping… 

Until they all freeze in dismay at the tableau before them: Mickey Ryan standing there with his fist still raised, Danny lying on the ground, unmoving, and Chris kneeling next to him, fingers stained with Danny’s blood.

“Danny!” the always soft-spoken coach roars and rushes towards his son. “Danny. Danny!” And the rest of the team runs after him, Terry Eidson already dialing 911 on his cellphone. 

As Coach Ladouceur drops to his knees at his son’s other side, gently touching his neck and then slumping in relief when he feels the pulse still beating there, Salinas, who looms over them, asks in shock, “What happened?”

Chris stutters, feeling sick at the sight of Danny’s blood on his hands. “My… my father, he… Danny tried to stop him… and my dad, he hit Danny. He hit him, coach,” Chris whispers, looking at the man who’s been more of a father to him than his own dad ever was; his eyes full of tears and apologies. “Danny didn’t expect it. He tripped and… he hit his head, coach. His head…”

And Danny’s father strokes his son’s cheek lightly - Danny’s unconscious, his face almost gray - then he touches the blood still spilling sluggishly out of Danny’s ear, and he swallows hard because they know, they _all_ know, what it means. 

And then the other players - Salinas, Beaser, even Lanear himself! - they jump on Chris’ father and start pummeling him in fury, but fortunately, Eidson’s there, pulling them off, yelling at them to stop. Fortunately, because neither Chris, nor Bob Ladouceur seem able to move, to tear their eyes away from Danny…

And then the ambulance is there and the cops and Bev Ladouceur, too, and she’s yelling at the crowd to let her through because someone must have told her that whatever happened, it involved her son, but all Chris can do is stare, stare at his bloody hands and at Danny, being carefully loaded into the ambulance, and though his own father is screaming something in the background, Chris’ words are aimed at the coach, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, so sorry…”

And for once, Bob Ladouceur, who’s always known what to say, in every situation, who’s always known what to do, stands there speechless and lost - because it’s his son on the stretcher, his son, and if God were merciful, how could he let something like this happen? 

And then they’re swept away, Chris and the coach by Bev and by Eidson, by the other players, and they’re roaring off to the hospital, after the screaming ambulance, and there’s no time to think, just noise and yelling and questions, so many questions, “Why? Why? Why?”


End file.
